SICILIAN-STYLE GRILLED CHICKEN WITH EGGPLANT CAPONATA
danielRcrowther
September 4, 2022
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Ingredients
Adjust Servings
| CHICKEN | |
| 4 bone-in, skin on leg/thigh pieces. (feel free to use boneless as well – legs or thighs. If you are not using breasts, a leg and a thigh is good for one serving) | |
| 1 cup EVOO | |
| Juice of 2 lemons – about ½ cup. (lime juice works well, we actually saw this dish served with limes in Sicily) | |
| 2-3 bunches flat leaf parsley (About ½ cup loosely packed) | |
| 2-3 bunches oregano, roughly chopped (about ½ cup loosely packed) | |
| 2-3 tsp crushed red pepper (about a half dozen gentle shakes. Season to taste and spice preference!) | |
| 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped | |
| Red wine vinegar |
| CAPONATA | |
| 2 large eggplants – halved | |
| 2 yellow onions, diced | |
| 2 medium banana peppers, halved, de-seeded and diced | |
| 3-4 celery stalks, chopped into about ¼” slices | |
| ½ cup Castelvetrano olives, halved | |
| 2 medium tomatoes, diced | |
| ¼ cup raisins | |
| 2 tbsp capers | |
| 2 tbsp white wine vinegar | |
| Italian Seasoning or dried oregano | |
| 2 bunches oregano, roughly chopped (about ½ cup loosely packed) | |
| 2 bunches basil, roughly chopped (about ½ cup loosely packed) | |
| 3 tbsp EVOO | |
| Crushed red pepper, to taste (feel free to leave this out all together if you are sensitive to spice, the banana peppers will give a little heat) | |
| 3 tbsp honey |
Directions
1.
This sicilian-style chicken dish was inspired by a dish we had at a sidewalk café in Cefalu, Italy. Chicken isn’t the most popular dish in a fishing village like Cefalu, but we wanted a break from seafood and was pleasantly surprised! The mild heartiness of the marinated, grilled chicken complemented the caponata perfectly!
The caponata is super flexible – eggplant, tomatoes, lemon juice, and capers/olives are key to the flavor profile of a good caponata, but feel free to play around with the rest of the vegetables depending on what your garden or farmer’s market is providing!
In Italy, we had this served as a half a chicken, bone-in, but feel free to serve with boneless chicken breasts too.
Mark as complete
Notes
1 Prep the chicken: drain, remove from the packaging and pay dry. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper well
2 Prep marinade: in a large 4 cup+ measuring cup, combine oil, lemon juice, vinegar, herbs, garlic, and salt and pepper. Stir well
3 Divide chicken into 2 separate gallon Ziploc bags. Evenly distribute marinade between each bag and zip up, trying to remove as much air as possible without spilling any marinade. Once zipped, mix the marinade and chicken well for a minute or 2 with your hands until it looks like it’s fully incorporated. Reserve in the fridge minimum 1 hour, max overnight
4 Prep caponata: Chop all veggies and reserve in bowls or on the cutting board. Halve eggplant, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper and Italian seasoning – rub all over evenly. Heat up the grill to medium/375 F
5 Once the grill is heated, place the chicken directly on the heat. If cooking bone-in – cook 7-8 mins on direct heat, turning once, then 20 minutes on the top rack to cook through. If boneless, cook 10-12 minutes on direct heat, turning once. (Chicken should be 165 F in the thickest part). Let chicken rest about 5 minutes before serving
6 While chicken grills, grill eggplant – 8-10 minutes, flipping once. Eggplant should be cooked, but not 100% done (you can tell when Eggplant is getting cooked through as the skin loses it’s firmness and the eggplant gets very soft. Aim for 50%-75% cooked, as it will finish in the pan with the caponata).
7 Let the eggplant rest for 2-3 minutes, then dice into 1” pieces. Reserve in a bowl with the rest of the chopped caponata vegetables
8 Start the caponata: Heat up a large sautee pan with EVOO (I always heat up the pan, then add the EVOO before any ingredients go in, so as to not burn the oil). Add onions, celery, garlic, and peppers and sautee 2-3 minutes. Then add raisins, tomatoes, capers, olives, and half of the herbs. Sautee 3-4 minutes, stirring. Pour in white wine vinegar and stir well. Add remaining herbs and diced eggplant, and stir well. Saute another 3-4 minutes.
Serve chicken over caponata, and finish with a squeeze of lemon (or lime!) If serving boneless breasts, slice each breast into 1” pieces before serving. Boneless can be served who
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